Page 72 of A Baron of Bonds
Once again, we exited the inn and received more than a few stares, including a creeping blush up the cheeks of the inn’s clerk as we passed.
I doubted I was acting like a Baron at all. But really, what example did I have?
The truth of it was, I didn’t care.
We had three hours to waste however we wanted. Karus led us to the shop to find more styris tea, and just as importantly, a small flask that fit in my inside vest pocket.
The night market was beginning to open, and we walked the streets, hand-in-hand. As the daytime stalls came down, new ones erected full of lanterns and dark corners.
The city venders were efficient with the merchants calling to each other, laughing and joking as they set out their wares. The taverns were packed with hungry guests filling in to eat their dinner and warm themselves by the roaring fires.
Neither one of us were hungry after the unforgettable fisherman’s pie, so Karus led us to a bakery that served a warm drink she called calpomum.
“Alright, now stir the bottom like this.”
We sat at a small table on two backless chairs while people filtered in and out to purchase breads and sweets. I followed her instruction, picking up the delicate, thin spoon and swirling it in the bottom of my clear mug. The motion brought a swarm of spices to the top.
She nodded excitedly. “Now, this next part is important.”
She glowed before me. Whether her magic appeared or not, this woman was no less than a beam of light straight to my heart. Her eyes lit with joy, her lips red and full. “I’m listening,” I acknowledged with amusement.
“You take this,”—she held up her stick of cinnamon—“and you have to drink fast because sometimes you get a stick with a hole in it and your calpomum will just spill out the sides.”
She took mine from the plate we were given and inspected it closely. “Perfect.”
She handed it to me, and I took it, placing it in my drink and bending along with her to take a sip through the cinnamon straw.
Warm notes of clove, apple, orange, and cinnamon, rolled on my tongue and coated my throat as I swallowed.
“Good?” she asked in a brilliant grin.
I nodded and cleared my throat. “Very.”
“I’m sure I could teach Lia the recipe when we get home.”
Home.
I reached across the table, my hand open for her to take, and I brought her knuckles to my lips. “Yes. Home.”
Voices grew louder near us and we both turned, hearing the wordlumenandconduits.
“Two of them and one creature from the forest with skin green as the grass and wings! Actual wings!”
Karus looked to me and bit her lip.
I nodded. “Time to go.”
If the bakery on the market street was already abuzz with the news of arrivals from Felgren, we needed to be at the castle before the meeting to fill them in.
Wrapped tightly in our cloaks, we hurried along the night market. The scent of jasmine and sandalwood floated through the air as the lanterns lit our way in the dark.
When we arrived at the castle, I recognized one of the guards, who nodded and opened the doors for us. Karus was right. I really had done my work the last seventeen days.
The foyer was full, servants and guards filtering in and out, groups of them speaking quietly and hurriedly to each other before a higher ranking officer told them off.
I spotted Mierah near the grand staircase and took Karus’s hand, headed to her.
“Mierah, did a group arrive from Felgren?”
